Bacon numbers - Page 2

Uncwilly · 2019-07-11, 21:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasong

My Bill Clinton number is 1, because my father's father was friends with him. My Xyzzy number is 0, because I met him at a Chick-Fil-A. Other than that, I can't think of anything special.

Your Xyzzy number is 1. It is 0 if you are Xyzzy. If you knew your father's father, then your Clinton number is 2. I have a a Clinton number of 2 or 3. The Bacon number is based upon being in a movie with him, not knowing him. I am a FB friend for someone that works for/with him.

I can pull up all sorts of other numbers for other famous folk. That is if we are talking about meeting or knowing someone. My Neil Armstrong would be 2 (the intermediary is an Apollo astronaut.) Several past foreign heads of state are 2 (including QE2). Old Albert E. is a 2 (a family member frequented the household). The gaggle of the Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Fleetwood Mac (among others) is 2 (a family member had personal connections.)
But, that and $5 might get me a fancy cup of coffee.

LaurV · 2019-07-12, 08:07

Erdos and Bacon numbers were "invented" not because the guys were famous, but because they were very prolific in their domains. Erdos for example wrote more scientific papers with more collaborators around the world than the next 10 or 20 challengers combined. At the time his "number" was invented, it was some kind of "small world experiment", proving that every person who ever wrote a scientific paper has an Erdos number of 6 or 7 or so. Then the stunt stuck, and remained. Which give us the opportunity to joke here about (I am the first to joke about, because I have an Erdos number which I got "accidentally" ending up on a paper with some of my colleagues who later stayed on the academic environment and proved prolific in writing other papers in collaboration with really big-guns on their fields of interest), but some people really take this serious (and I mean in the sense of social experiment, psychology, whatever, not vanity or self-pride).

Edit: and yes, my LaurV number is 0, and my Xyzzy number is 1.25, because I didn't meet him in person, but he helped me a lot buying hardware for me form ebay and sending it to me (because the sellers didn't want to sell to my part of the world), sometimes investing his own money and time into it. Therefore if I will ever meet him I will shake his hand and have a Xyzzy number of 0.93. Dixit!

retina · 2019-07-12, 08:13

My "royalty number" is 1.

I've met a few royals around the place.

Mostly princesses and princes. So far no kings or queens though. But this was some time ago. Nowadays the security presence is more pronounced and restrictive as they have tended to become more scared of the little people.

LaurV · 2019-07-12, 08:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

If you knew your father's father, then your Clinton number is 2

That is accurate, but not complete. Complete is: "If you knew your father's father, then your Clinton number is 2. If you didn't know your father's father, but if you knew your father, and if your father knew his father, then your Clinton number is 3."

2019-07-12, 08:07	#13
LaurV Romulan Interpreter Jun 2011 Thailand 7×1,373 Posts	Erdos and Bacon numbers were "invented" not because the guys were famous, but because they were very prolific in their domains. Erdos for example wrote more scientific papers with more collaborators around the world than the next 10 or 20 challengers combined. At the time his "number" was invented, it was some kind of "small world experiment", proving that every person who ever wrote a scientific paper has an Erdos number of 6 or 7 or so. Then the stunt stuck, and remained. Which give us the opportunity to joke here about (I am the first to joke about, because I have an Erdos number which I got "accidentally" ending up on a paper with some of my colleagues who later stayed on the academic environment and proved prolific in writing other papers in collaboration with really big-guns on their fields of interest), but some people really take this serious (and I mean in the sense of social experiment, psychology, whatever, not vanity or self-pride). Edit: and yes, my LaurV number is 0, and my Xyzzy number is 1.25, because I didn't meet him in person, but he helped me a lot buying hardware for me form ebay and sending it to me (because the sellers didn't want to sell to my part of the world), sometimes investing his own money and time into it. Therefore if I will ever meet him I will shake his hand and have a Xyzzy number of 0.93. Dixit! Last fiddled with by LaurV on 2019-07-12 at 08:12

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2019-07-12, 08:13	#14
retina Undefined "The unspeakable one" Jun 2006 My evil lair 2²·1,549 Posts	My "royalty number" is 1. I've met a few royals around the place. Mostly princesses and princes. So far no kings or queens though. But this was some time ago. Nowadays the security presence is more pronounced and restrictive as they have tended to become more scared of the little people.